1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a connecting structure for connecting an inner refrigerant pipe extending from a cooler inside a housing for an in-vehicle device, to an outer refrigerant pipe placed outside the housing at a housing wall. Typically, the present invention relates to a connecting structure in an inverter including a cooler in a housing, and the connecting structure connects an outer refrigerant pipe to an inner refrigerant pipe extending from the cooler.
2. Description of Related Art
In an electronic device including a liquid cooling cooler, it is necessary to connect an outer refrigerant pipe to a refrigerant pipe of the cooler. A connecting part therebetween is often placed on a housing wall. This is because a structure for connecting them can be fixed to the housing wall.
The refrigerant pipes are not just connected, but various efforts are made for an in-vehicle device, e.g., an inverter of an electric vehicle. For example, Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 2012-064724 (JP 2012-064724 A) proposes a structure in which, even if refrigerant leaks at a connection portion, the refrigerant is hard to come inside a housing. In the technique, a joint is fitted to a through hole of the housing. The joint has a hollow when viewed from outside the housing, and a refrigerant pipe of a cooler projects from a bottom of the hollow. A refrigerant pipe of the cooler is connected to an outer refrigerant pipe inside the hollow. Since the inside of the hollow corresponds the outside of the housing, even if it refrigerant leaks at the time of disconnection between the refrigerant pipe of the cooler and the outer refrigerant pipe, the refrigerant is prevented from coming inside the housing. In the following description, the refrigerant pipe inside the in-vehicle device is referred to as an inner refrigerant pipe, and the refrigerant pipe outside the housing is referred to an outer refrigerant pipe.